Chapter 26
"Holy water cannot help you now
A thousand armies couldn't keep me out
I don't want your money, I don't want your crown
See I've come to burn your kingdom down"
"Seven Devils" Florence + Machine
Considering the bloody act of vengeance they were planning on attempting, Thor noticed the sun was surprisingly gentle as it rose in the sky the next morning.
Sif was packing up camp with Volstagg diligently while Fandral preened in the river reflection and polished his armor. Loki was dressing in his armor the old-fashioned way and Thor was helping him because some of the clasps and knots were simply impossible to shut and cinch on one's own back. They hadn't been able to grab one of Loki's helmets but that didn't seem to bother the prince who simply pulled his hair back out of his face again. Thor wondered a bit at it, certainly it was more practical then having hair in one's face, but it wasn't the Aesir way. A man's hair was a point of pride… pulling it back was sort of downplaying it, especially for battle.
Loki strapped their mother's short swords to his back, making a 'v' with the hilts behind his neck, instead of how Frigga would have worn them at the hip, due to the difference in builds. Both brother's seemed to be a bit uncomfortable with the idea of bringing their mother's weapons into battle against their father, but,
"With any luck you won't need them." Thor clapped Loki on the shoulder encouragingly. When Odin came to him Thor fully intended to end it quickly, before Loki would have time to reach him.
Loki pursed his lips and looked away, no doubt still upset he wasn't getting the first shot at Odin. Thor understood why it could be upsetting, but he wasn't budging on this one. Odin would kill Loki. He might kill Thor, but it probably wouldn't be his first option. He would probably try to debilitate him first and then Thor would have the opportunity to act before that happened. Loki, while a fierce warrior, was wielding two short swords and four fewer years of experience than Thor. He did not have his magic, or his accelerated healing, or lightning, or a magic hammer that was indestructible. No, Loki couldn't be allowed to fight this battle. This was Thor's chance to protect him, for once. This was redemption.
He gave Loki a reassuring smile and clapped him one more time one the back before going over to take a pack from Sif. Once camp was packed up on their back and the fire was out, the five warriors started the trek down the side of the mountains. With their pace and stamina it should only take them several hours, they would be to the main city by midday and to the palace by 2 in the afternoon. The elves would attack by 3.
Thor took the lead, Loki followed directly behind him, and Sif took up the rear behind Fandral and Volstagg who was listening to the former's wild tale about a date with a woman who had turned out to be an Alfheimian spy and his valiant deeds in protecting the state from her plot against the it.
"You mean the State we're now conspiring to stand against." He heard Loki mutter behind him. Thor reached back to elbow his younger brother a bit and earned a wry grin.
"What was that?" Fandral asked distractedly.
"Oh, nothing." Thor could practically hear Loki rolling his eyes behind him and a grin bloomed across his own face as well.
"Well, anyways, as I was explaining, there are certain things you can and can not tell a lady-"
"Yes, yes, I know, I'm married to one!" Volstagg shoved Fandral when the blond slowed down too much. "Get to the part where she turned out to be a spy!"
"Oh, right! Well, it was they way she picked up her salad fork, see, and she had a good accent but every now that then her 'g's would-" And so it continued until they reached the city gates and threw their hoods over their faces. There was once a day when Loki would take turns telling tales of fantasy with Fandral's tales of romance and wooing, but after Sigyn's death he'd stopped telling stories; except for in the form of lies. Sigyn had been the one to teach Loki the art of fiction. Thor decided he was going to have to ask Loki to tell another story when this nightmare was over. He missed them, there was much more variety to Loki's tales than Fandral's romances.
As they approached the palace grounds Thor stopped with a sudden weight in his stomach. Behind him Loki swore and Sif and Fandral gasped in was stunned silent. A dark column of smoke was rising from the heart of the palace and muffled screaming could be heard echoing through the walls of gold. Elvish ships swarmed the sky, already locked in battle with Aesir one's.
The elves decided to attack early.
Loki was cursing in elvish at the elves and Thor found in fitting. They could lose their chance to intercept Odin because of this. Civilians would likely die because over this.
"Finian I swear one of these days I'm going to bash that blonde braided skull of yours in for your idiocy!" Loki growled behind him unsheathing Frigga's blades. "Alright, same play, new rules; You three, south entrance. Thor you have the West. Elves are now considered the enemy, they broke the alliance by attacking the main halls of the palace. Protect civilians and servants at all costs. Questions?"
Every one firmly shook their head one and unsheathed their weapons.
"I'll see all of you when this is finished." Thor demanded of them all with a smile. Everyone nodded but Loki who said,
"Alright, let's go." Before dashing to the east wing. Thor nodded to his friends once more who took to the South and then he bolted to the West.
This day was far from over, but hopefully it would end well.
******LOKI******
This was going terribly. Loki was literally fantasizing about all the ways he could murder Finian right now. Why would he do this?! He had no quarrel with civilians and may have just cost them their shot at Odin.
Finian was gunning for the first shot at Odin, that's what it was. Loki felt like screaming in frustration. He was the one who had lost the most to this monster! So why was he the only one who could think logically about the situation!
Thor wanted to be the one to take Odin out because he thought he could do it better than Loki. But Odin had the power to not only strip Thor of his thunder and hammer, but to make Thor mortal.
What was Thor going to do if that happend? As nicely to be allowed to lift his hammer again? Ask for Odin to pull a few punches so he didn't crush his brittle mortal bones? No! Odin couldn't curse Loki as a mortal because all that would happen would be to change Loki back into his natural form; jotun, which was just as dangerous as an aesir. So in all reality, Loki had a better chance at surviving Odin. Still not great. But better.
And Finian? He was literally just running in there with blind fury and vengeance. Sigyn had been dead for five-hundred years without any reaction whatsoever from her brother! But now that he had someone to blame he was going to cost them their chance because he wanted it more?!
He was surrounded by idiots. Idiots with hearts of gold, in Thor's case, but idiots nonetheless.
Two elven warriors lunged at him with swords drawn and he dropped to duck the first swing, in order to keep his head. With a roll of both wrists he hamstringed them both as he rose to slit their throats with another set of precise slices.
He flinched at the whizzing of an arrow and snapped around with blades raised to swat them out of the air like flies. He sliced another one at the tip and dove behind a pillar. In three smooth movements he'd sheathed the right sword, drawn a dagger, and shot it at the unsuspecting archer who thought themself out of reach by dagger and fell with a surprised cry cut short.
He glanced around and stilled for a moment to listen for footsteps and stepped out to throw another dagger at a scout perched up in a window. He then drew his sheathed sword, for the comfort of having both in hand and started cantering down the hallway again, keeping his senses alert for attackers.
The boiling rage almost distracted him from the fear of what was coming.
Along the hallway there was the body of a young maiden, no older than Alannah, crumpled beneath the frame of an Aesir guard who had tried to protect her from a lance that had travelled right though his body and into hers.
The light blue color of her gown was stained a dark maroon from the blood that had blossomed from her soft belly. He couldn't tell if the blood splattered across her face and flecking her sightless eyes was hers or the guards but he grit his teeth and hurdled past them.
He had been clear with Finian; no civilian casualties. And this was no accident, the guard was protecting her because she was the target. Finian had made all of Asgard the enemy. If Loki got ahold of him, he'd kill Finian himself.
He'd do it now, except he was running out of time to catch Odin. the Allfather could very well be surrounded by a troop of the Eijnjar.
He sprinted down the corridors down, gauging how much time he had by his estimate of how long the bodies scattered across the floor had been dead. His speed kept him difficult to shoot at especially with his path being scrambled by the bodies in his way and he cut down anyone who came against him easily.
He was attacked by a quintet of Elvish soldiers and he engaged them with several snaps and spins in a single blur of motion as his mother had taught him.
He could almost hear her voice scolding, Footwork, Loki. as she would gently smack the insides of his feet with the flat side of her sword while he tried to stumble through the precise movements she insisted he practice. He didn't understand why "footwork" was so necessary.
Frigga fought more like a dance than hacking at one's opponent, like everyone else on Asgard, and for some reason she wanted Loki, of all people, to learn her methods. Thor wasn't sent through hours of "footwork" lessons or told to practice the same movement 1,000 times in a day.
Then again, Loki mused as he cut through the five soldiers like cream, perhaps he didn't need to fight like Thor. What Frigga saw in him wasn't his weaker strength than Thor, but his quicker speed and faster reflexes. Thor may be invincible to arrows, but he could not catch them in midair. Overall, Thor and Loki came out fairly equal, well, if you didn't count the fact that Thor had been given a magic hammer on invincibility and Loki had been given a pair of little daggers on their coming of age days.
The last two elves fell at the same time and Loki stepped over them to rush down a side corridor and slip into the Kings' Eastern Sanctuary.
"I was wondering if you'd taken the cowards way out and run back to the hills with your tail between your legs," Odin sneered as he stepped into the room. "I was going to offer quid pro quo, if you didn't spread such nasty rumors I might have spared your life… but it's much too late for that I'm afraid."
There were no guards. Only Odin, sitting on a large chair that looked like a throne. Of course he was on a throne. Power play, immediate intimidation. Reminding his opponent how much power he had. And how much farther beneath him they were. It worked.
Loki had to swallow hard before stepping the rest of the way into the room. Into the belly of the beast. The center of the flame. The den of the Lion.
The bait was caught.
The trap was sprung.
******THOR*******
Thor realized Loki's trick as soon as he reached the West wing Sanctuary.
Bodies had littered the hallway. Thor had brutally massacred the remaining elves responsible.
He'd even found a little boy who'd been killed by a bow to the back of the head, no older than eleven or twelve. Dead. After closing the little boy's eyes the storm had started rolling in.
His path had been mostly clear after that initial massacre. Either the elves were concentrated elsewhere, or they were smart enough now to stay out of the Thunderer's path.
He burst into the West Wing Sanctuary and was met with the sound of the wind. The dark red curtains surging on the current of the thunder's breath as the sky darkened from pearl to slate. The air tasted like salt as the breeze caught up the air of the sea and hurled it across dry land. The windows of the abandoned sanctuary wicked open and closed like the punchline to a morbid joke.
Got you, brother.
"NO!" Thor spun around in panic to look down the hallway in realization like a bloody dawn. The East wing sanctuary was two miles from here.
He drew back his hammer to wind up but suddenly it dropped like and anchor. The clang echoed through the chamber like the rattle of death. A door to his side opened and he spun around arms raised and ready to defend himself, panic overriding his senses.
He was mortal. He was mortal and unworthy of his hammer. Why was he unworthy-? Odin had changed the criteria of worthiness. Of course he had. Why hadn't Thor thought of that? Loki probably had. That's why Loki tricked him…
The gatekeeper of Asgard stepped through the open doorway. Thor's breath caught and he took a step back. Heimdall. He was the key. He was the variable that Loki had thought of but Thor had forgotten. Stupid.
"You told-" Thor was looking at Heimdal in white horror. Loki had tricked Thor into taking the West, knowing that Odin would be informed of which direction to go after Loki in. Loki had placed a trap, with himself as the bait.
Traps never worked well for the bait.
"I am bound to my King, my prince. I answer to him." Heimdal honestly looked ashamed.
"Have you no concious to answer to!" Thor roared snarling at Heimdal in terrified rage. Loki was facing down the Allfather with two little half blades and no magic.
"I do." Heimdal nodded solemnly, "Which is why I brought you this."
He held out the sword of the bifrost for Thor to take. Thor lunged for it and staggered for a moment under its weight. His strength was depleted. He had nothing to protect him but his armor. He was mortal. Human. Tiny. Pathetic.
But he would not abandon his brother now.
He turned back to the hallway and started the two mile trek with the heavy sword, human legs slowing him down into a stumble. He had to get there though. He had to reach his brother.
He'd just gotten him back. He could not lose him now!
******LOKI******
Loki wouldn't say he was losing badly… persay, considering that he was facing arguably one of the most powerful beings in the universe. But he was losing. And it was not good.
Odin was constantly tampering with Loki's magic throwing the leash taut just to snap it back in tight again and it felt like the only times he was allowed to breath was when the air was full of ash and ember. He choked on the collar about his magic and stumbled everytime a jolt of that white hot pain snapped through his veins.
Still he managed to mostly avoid Odin's blows and jabs with Gungir, thanks to his speed and Frigga's maneuvering techniques. Odin lunged. Loki spun out of reach.
Gungir snaked out, Frigga's half blades flashed and whined under the weight of the attack.
As Loki blocked the spear, Odin threw a powerful blow into his stomach that doubled Loki over. A broad knee snapped into his face. The tip of the spear shot at his face he dropped to the ground to roll out of the way.
He snapped back to his feet and launched into an attack of his own. Using his momentum from jumping up he shot a quick left swipe and as Odin blocked it he managed an uppercut with his right fist, knowing the blade wouldn't make its mark.
Odin used his better balance and greater strength to send Loki flying against the throne. Loki barely dodged a lethal blow of magic. It was so powerful it shattered the throne and sent splinters flying across the room. It would take Odin two minutes to rebuild his reserves from an attack like that.
Loki used his greater height to his advantage and was able to bear down on Odin a few times and managed non-lethal blows to the neck and shoulders frequently with Frigga's short swords that drew blood and a savage smile from his opponent.
Odin kicked Loki's knees out from under him and Loki managed to partially sever Odin's hamstring as he went down earning a gasp and a howl from the King.
The Older stabbed down with the staff and the younger rolled away desperately avoiding the crashing jabs that punctured the stone in the ground with mighty cracks! That send jolts of adrenaline through Loki's veins.
Odin seized at his magic and shot pain through it again and Loki bit back a wail and his muscles seized. He managed one last duck and roll and clambered to his feet with the wall to brace him.
Odin used his replenished magic to hurtle an attack of a different kind.
The crystal clear image of Nari's face, frozen in death like stone was shoved across his eyes. He froze.
That was all Odin needed.
Loki's mouth dropped open to gasp as Gungnir was shoved with an upward angle through his solar plexus and severed both lung with a single slice. No sound sprouted from his lips.
He was lifted three inches off the ground by the force of the blow. Odin kept him pinned to the wall, hanging on the blade of the spear.
"You want to know why I killed your spawn, Laufeyson?" Odin spat, thick spittle spraying across Loki's bone white face.
"Because they were monstrosities! Because the your seed, you Jotun-cur, made beasts, not children! Because if I had let that little witch mature she would have been more powerful than Death herself! She was a freak! And the male wouldn't have been any think you're avenging them by coming in here and dying? No. You're just being butchered like the animal you are. Do you understand? I didn't murder anyone. It's not murder when they're animals."
He shoved the spear harder into the wall so the tip bore all the way through the ribcage and anchored itself into the stone of the wall behind him. A whimper clawed it's way out of Loki's throat and brought the taste of copper with it. Odin sneered.
Loki's hands desperately scrambled at the gold shaft of the spear was slick with crimson blood as the abdominal aorta burst and Loki's hands slipped helplessly without any purchase.
A flash of gold magic shot up the rod and into Loki's chest where it penetrated his soul vault. It was finished. This would be lethal.
Loki was suddenly overwhelmed by the realization that for once in his life, he didn't want to die. Not like this.
"Don't you ever think you were ever anything to me, jotun." Odin hissed as though the word Jotun was enough of an insult.
It wasn't though. It was a reminder.
With one final, desperate act against his monstrous foster-father, now murderer, Loki forced the shift and felt his limbs go icy cold and skin mottle to indigo.
As red lit up his blazing eyes and the Jotun crown bloomed across his forehead, Loki's right hand shot forward and sent dozens of icy shards through Odin's exposed neck while he snarled up at him.
Odin choked and stumbled back, clutching at his throat with a sickening gurgle.
He fell to his knees before Loki, who was still suspended in the air on the shaft of Gungnir. With several thick icicles, dyed scarlet red, the King fell face first into a pool of his own blood. He shuddered once, and died quickly. Slain by a Jotun.
Loki closed his eyes and shivered as the cold of his blue skin latched down into his bones.